The first thing that come to mind for most adults when asked about being a kid in Fall is jumping into a pile of leaves. Noting represents fall like a huge pile of leaves and a handful of friends just jumping into it over and over and over…
No one had a care on the world. Time seemed to stop. Even as the days were getting shorter and the nights longer there was an air of simplicity. The only thing that truly mattered was getting the leaf pile high enough to ensure we wouldn’t slam onto the ground.
Fall (or Autumn if you prefer) represents change. Change is the constant during Fall. Although change is always constant, the Fall carries with it a quite different kind of air.
The Change Is Coming
The difference in fall is that change brings on an overarching feeling of permanency. Whereas summer brings about free-spirited days and endless summer nights, Fall pushes up towards things like…
Routine
Gathering
Slowing Down
Coming In
Depending of course on where you live, Fall will be a bit different (I mean a San Diego Fall is quite different from Chicago Fall). One place delivers an extended feeling of summer and one lets you know that winter is closing in.
Routine becomes the talk of the day. The kids are going back to school, vacations are over, and businesses are entering into the last quarter of the calendar year and the belts tighten down. Projects seems to come with quicker, sometimes a more hurried deadline.
However, routine has its place. When we are operating inside of routine, things get done. Focus hones. A seriousness filters in. It is in the routine that we find comfort. That comfort is the knowledge of what is going on. Routine offers the ability to plan. Routine offers the ability to make necessary shifts in production. We start to increase in our awareness of everything.
Gathering takes over the helm. We start to take inventory of what we have. Where Spring cleaning rids us of the heavy weight of what we do not find useful during the Fall and Winter, Fall offers the chance to gather what we need to make it through. We harvest more in the Fall than the Spring. We desire to hold on more. Think of the holidays that are coming (I know I know). What draws the holiday in is the gathering of family, the memories of times gone by… often happy, sentimental memories that beg us to reconnect to and with others.
Slowing Down our lives produce the space needed to reconnect. Slowing down allows for processing, growth, clarity, planning, and a myriad of other obsessions to come alive. Slowing down should be seen for what it is… an opportunity. Opportunity is what drives us forward in life and business, and in all our relationships.
Opportunity = Growth
Opportunity sanctions time. Time is a precious commodity and each year the season of Fall bids us time to reflect, time to regroup, time to rest, and time to re-energize ourselves.
Coming In to our own minds, our own lives, our own businesses, our own homes becomes necessary and essential. We must make time for ourselves. The natural loss of daylight forces us in sooner (despite all the nightlife and nighttime choices) which forces us to spend time with ourselves.
The magic is the self.
When we finally consent that the seasons are changing and yes it definitely is Fall, our best response is to fall into it. Take the time to self-reflect. Give yourself permission to stop and self-evaluate. Sleep more. These lead to clearer thinking and cleaner slates.
Recognizing that Fall is an opportunity generates the needed energy to jump into the pile of leaves. And just like that pile of leaves after we jump in, we create the routine…. Jump into the pile, gather the leaves into a pile, slow down to navigate our jump and then head inside of it… only to do it repeatedly.